Panorama of 1930s Luck [Ukr. Lutsk], when it still was a part of the II Reczpospolita Polska [Second Polish Republic]. Józef and Klara Diatłowicki were still living there with their younger children when, in 1939, their son David and his wife Hanna (Jerzy Diatłowicki’s parents) arrived from Warsaw.
The composition is not positioned centrally but moved a bit to the bottom and to the right, with big margins. There are blended smudges of pencil around it. Blackness of trees in the middle, above them a bright church tower with a round and a bit darker dome – it is the Jesuit Katedra Apostołów św. Piotra I Pawła [Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral]. On the left a bright wall and another tower – one of the three towers of the 14th century Liubar’s Castle (Demetrius Lubartas, Lithuanian prince).
In the context of David’s and Hanna’s arrival, the words of another 1939 refugee from Warsaw to Luck are worth quoting. This is how Paulina Włodawer, after many years, recalls her first impression of the city in her diary (MPOLIN-A4.1.1): "We came to Luck in the early, sunny morning […]. From our rail car, we saw an adorable little town by the river Stryi stretching down the hills and into the valley, beautifully illuminated by the rising sun which, at least from our carriage, gave an impression of an exceptional peace and charm, so we immediately decided to stay there. […] We walked around the calm, narrow streets and I was getting to like them more and more […]. There were a lot of churches and, probably, not less synagogues, but they were not so visible. The population was Polish, Jewish and Ukrainian; however, the Poles were mostly intelligentsia and clerks of any kind, while the Jews dealt with trade and crafts and the Ukrainians filled all the menial jobs. The nearby villages were mostly Ukrainian, but there were also many Polish – bigger or smaller – settlements (hence the name "osadnik" [settler] which in the latter Russians nomenclature was used to describe every Pole in the region)" (entries from 25 and 29 September, 1980). However, the landscape of Luck was significantly changing, already in 1939: The town was becoming grey, pale and more ugly with every day. Many shops were closed: if the window pane fell out, it was immediately replaced with plywood. Queues, unknown before, were coming into the picture, together with more and more of the characteristic figures in shabby coats – reaching all the way down to their heels, and in flat peaked caps (leninovkas). In addition, people immediately quit dressing sharp – in order not to stand out and not to be stapled with the epithet ‘bourgeoisie’" (entry from 1 September, 1980).
